This Week in Portland
Sept 10 -
Sept 17 2011

Welcome
to another
edition of our weekly Portland blog! This
hot summer weekend, I hope you have a chance to get out and experience
MusicFest
NW.
It continues through this weekend with concerts
at nearly every Portland music venue, including outdoor concerts at
Pioneer Courthouse Square.

You can purchase tickets to individual shows, or get a wristband to get
into all venues. Make your own itinerary and enjoy a musical
tour of Portland. On Thursday night, we went to Wonder
Ballroom for The Joy Formidable
set, then headed to Branx for some
amazing shows by the Suuns, Breakfast
Mountain,
Talk Demonic, and
Handsome Furs.

Tonight it's the Doug Fir with Ages
and Ages, Pickwick,
the Givers, and Lost Lander.
And this weekend, we will join
throngs of people in Pioneer Courthouse Square for Band of Horses, and
Explosions in the Sky.
If you enjoy live music even a little,
get out there and experience this amazing Portland music event this
weekend.

Of all the bands we heard last night, one of the most impressive was
the Suuns. With zero preamble, they blasted onto the stage
full throttle, blowing waves of sound and emotion through
the room like a tidal wave of energy. After the first set,
the girl standing next to me said "Wow!
I haven't felt anything like
that in a long time!"

There are so many talented bands in
town this week you can't go wrong at any Portland music venue.
We also heard Portland's own Talk
Demonic
with a mix of
electronica, drums,and viola, delivering a pounding bass beat mixed
with an
ethereal dreamy quality. I overhead a fan say, "Sprinkle some
fairy
dust on that!", after a particularly haunting melody.

One
of the best parts about MusicFestNW is getting out in Portland and
meeting other people who enjoy our amazing city and the richness of
life in Portland. Many people have traveled to Portland for
this event , including many of the bands. Ritzy of Joy
Formidable
perhaps said it best when she said, "Hey Portland, what a great city
you have here!"

Opens
Monday September 12th, 2011

Belmont
Street Fair - This Weekend

Imagine! September 10, 2011 - Noon to
8:00 pm!

This
year’s Belmont Area Street Fair promises to be a spectacular
event with all the best of past fairs plus some new and exciting
twists. Our theme this year is Imagine! Imagine the possibilities of a
thriving local community! Imagine…art on every
corner…community potluck dinners…great local
businesses within walking distance…backyard eggs for
all… human powered transport on car free streets…

Belmont
Street between 33rd and 37th will be car free once again. As one fair
enthusiast said last year, “After you go to this fair, you'll
wonder why they don't always shut down SE Belmont to cars/buses between
33rd and 37th…it just feels right.” A free
Ecoshuttle will link special events along Belmont between 20th to 48th
Avenues.The
Sunnyside Neighborhood Green will return to 34th and Belmont.
You’ll find an expanded Kids Fun Center, with activities for
kids of all ages, an integrated bouncy house and mini-golf course, and
juggling with Do Jump. Be sure to visit the Artist’s Alley,
showcasing the work of local artists, and the alternative
transportation exposition, which this year will feature cargo bikes. Local
musicians will perform on multiple stages, with a main stage lineup
that is sure to please:•
Chazz Funk All Stars (12:00 – 12:45 pm)•
Dusu Mali (1:00 – 2:00 pm)•
Sarah Moon & The Night Sky (2:15 – 3:15 pm)•
Sweet Juice (3:30 – 5:00 pm)•
Brothers of the Baladi (5:15 – 6:15 pm)•
Saloon Ensemble - featuring members of March Forth Marching Band (6:30
– 8 pm)The
Fair will take place Saturday, Sept. 10, from Noon to 8pm. The fair is
a collaboration between the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and the
Belmont Area Business Association, and organizers (Katie from Hall of
Records and Tim from SNA) have been working overtime to make this
year's fair a fun-filled, car-free community event filled with local
artists, musicians, street vendors, and family-friendly
activities…and where you can just imagine the possibilities.

This
Week's Top Ten in Portland

In
honor of MusicFestNW, this
week our Portland Top Ten is focused on Portland Music Venues and
places to see hear live music in Portland. Find more Portland
music venues on the Portland
Music Venues page.

The Portland Photo of
the Week

The
Portland Photo of the Week
winner this week is
by Michael Barton who captured several images of the World Forestry
Center this week. Thanks, Michael, we always enjoy your
Portland photos.

World Forestry Center by
Michael Barton

Our Portland
Photo of the Week
winner gets a gift certificate to a local Portland business of our
choosing. Michael will get a $20 gift certificate to local
business, Powells Bookstore.

If
you're a book lover and you live in Portland Oregon, then Powells
Bookstore is no surprise to you because it is a local favorite.
Powell's City of Books is one of the most visited spots in town whether
you're visiting Portland and looking for popular places to visit, or
whether you've lived in Portland your entire life. they say
80,000 people browse the shelves of Powells each
day. If you're visiting with a group, you can even arrange a
tour. "From humble
storefront beginnings in 1971 on a derelict corner of northwest
Portland, Oregon, Powell's Books has grown into one of the world's
great bookstores, with seven locations in the Portland metropolitan
area, and one of the book world's most successful dot-coms
(www.powells.com serving customers worldwide." (Powells.com) Learn
all about Powells Bookstore.

Featured Portland
Events

Here
are the featured Portland
events this week focusing on
events happening this weekend or those just around the corner! Thanks
to everyone for adding all the great Portland events to the community
events calendar. You can add your own Portland events directly to the
events calendar for free (please
read our terms of service first).
Just click "Add
an Event" and fill in the
details.

September
9, 2011 at 6pm to September
18, 2011 at 7pm – variousPICA's annual Time-Based Art
Festival (TBA) draws artists from across the country and around the
globe for a convergence of contemporary performance and visual art in
Portland, Oregon. Now in its nin…Organized
by PICA | Type: tba

September
10, 2011 at 2pm to September
11, 2011 at 6pm – Pearl
DistrictMore
than 100 wineries. One urban block. Experience the Willamette Valley
like never before.Two days of spectacular Willamette Valley wines,
winemakers and food. Meet the faces behind the labels in a…Organized
by Willamette Valley Wineries Association | Type: wine,
festival

September
11, 2011 all day – "Lucky
Lab"http://www.tourdelab.com
Get ready to ride your bike with thousands of other doggerrific people
for a whimsical day in support of DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital.
Are you feeling playful like…Organized
by Lucky Lab Brew Pub | Type: tour
de lab

Sylvan Highlands
Neighborhood
Real Estate Report

by Ross Seligman

Sylvan
Highlands is like
living in a forested city park. Beautiful homes offer
stunning views and you'll feel secluded and set apart from the rest of
Portland. Nearby you'll find the lovely Forest
Park. One of the most beautiful
parks in the country, Forest Park offers miles of hiking trails through
lush green woodland. This park truly personifies the Pacific Northwest.
Starting at NW 29th Ave and Upshur and spanning all the way to Newberry
Road, Forest Park sits smack dab in the middle of Portland, literally
neighboring downtown Portland. Enjoy hours of foot, bike and equestrian
trails all while relaxing in the intoxicating natural beauty. Forest
Park is dog friendly- your four-legged friends will love it here! To
learn more about Sylvan Highlands, click here.Are
you keeping an eye on
Sylvan Highlands or is it your neighborhood? Check
out this link for
a monthly updating real estate chart for this neighborhood.In
my monthly Portland
real estate report, I always talk about how each individual
neighborhood is a micro-market. If you are looking to buy or sell in a
particular neighborhood, the most crucial information that you need to
know is what is going on in that neighborhood. In this situation, the
overall Portland market report is less important and the national real
estate report is just about useless. This posting is a real estate
report for the Sylvan Highlands neighborhood of all homes in all price
ranges. Feel free to request particular neighborhoods in which you are
interested in buying or selling and I am be happy to do a report, just
contact me on this forum or at http://www.propertiesofportland.com.

If
you are looking for homes in the Sylvan Highlands neighborhood,
visit this link where you can search for homes by particular
neighborhood: Click Here

The
first thing you will notice about individual neighborhoods as
compared to the overall Portland reports are that the numbers can be
wildly different month to month. Basically, the bigger the pool of data
you are working with, the smoother the stats become. As we focus on
smaller areas, many different things can happen month to month.

On to
the report:

Here
is the overall chart of inventory, sold, and pending for the
Sylvan Highlands neighborhood in the last 15 months:In
July 2011, there were 8 closed sales, 7 pending sales, and 85 homes
on the market in the Sylvan Highlands Neighborhood.

One
year change from July 2010 to July 2011:

Inventory
(how many homes on the market for sale): Down 27.6%Homes
sold: Down 11.1%Homes
pending sale: Down 50%Chart
for average price per square footage:

In
the past 15 months,
the average price per square footage in the Sylvan Highlands
neighborhood has been between $142 and $200/sq. ft. In July 2011, the
average price per square foot in the Sylvan Highlands neighborhood was
$196.

Days
on Market, Sold/List
Price:This
chart is showing us
two things. First, how many days on the market that a home is spending,
on average, before being sold. In July 2011, the average time on market
for a home in the Sylvan Highlands neighborhood was 66 days.

The
second thing that this chart is showing you is what percentage of
the listing price the owners actually are getting when the house is
sold. This is a great indication of the pressure on
prices. In July 2011, sellers in Sylvan Highlands received,
on average, 90% of their original listing price.

More
stats for you:

Change
from July 2010 to July 2011:

Time
on Market: Down 24.1%Sold/List
price % difference: Down 2%

Average
price for sale
vs. average price of sold:

This
chart shows us what
the average listing was and what the average sale was. In
July 2011, the average price of a house on the market in
Sylvan Highlands was $807,000. The average sale was $580,000.

More
stats over one year:

Average
active price: Up 8.9%Average
sold price: Up 20.1%

Months
of Inventory:

Months
of inventory gives a time line of how long it would take for all
of the current listings to sell. Anything above 4 months is
considered a buyers market. This figure is a good indicator
of supply and demand. July 2011 in the Sylvan
Highlands neighborhood had 10.6 months of inventory.

By
the way, this does NOT mean that it will take 10.6 months for your
home to sell. That figure was, on average in July, 66 days.
Inventory is a figure that means that, if not another home
were to come on the market in Sylvan Highlands from this point forward,
in 10.6 months there would not be another home to sell. They
would all be sold.

Visit my website
where you can contact me and search all Portland Metro Area real estate
and homes for sale from the RMLS, including school and neighborhood
reports at : http://www.propertiesofportland.com

Best Real Estate
Deals in Portland - Homes for Sale in
Portland

Each
week, Ross shares five cool Portland real estate deals, and it is
always fun to take a peek at what Portland home deals are available.

That's It!

We
hope you enjoy reading our weekly Portland blog. Want to see
more or less of something? Let us know! Once again,
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